These throwback Puritanical virtue baby names are on their way back

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This Puritanical baby naming 'secret' is trending for a reason

Like us, you may have thought that many of these beautiful names had gone the way of the Mayflower. But virtue baby names for boys and girls that got their start with the early American Puritans are making a comeback. Soon enough, you'll be seeing some of these traditional first names — like Patience, Charity, Justice and Royal — on the roster for your kid's class.

Virtue names are normally more popular among girls than boys, but we can see the draw for either sex: The classic names are both spiritual and unique. With celebrities like Jessica Alba getting in on the virtue name trend (her daughters are named Honor and Haven), you are sure to see some of these names climb the charts. They are distinct enough, however, to help your child stand out in a crowd.

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Girls virtue baby names

For baby girls, we've seen interesting interpretations of the Puritanical classics: The super-spiritual name Heaven peaked in 2005 at number 245 on the Social Security Administration's top baby name list, and it was most recently listed as number 351 in 2015. Neveah (Heaven spelled backwards) moved steadily up the chart since 2006 before finally dropping down to number 997 in 2014.

The following names are unique and beautiful — and perfect for your baby girl:

Boys virtue baby names

Boy virtue names are not as popular as girl virtue names. Many of the names would make a great middle name or unique first name for baby boys — just keep in mind that you don't want a name that sounds too pretentious.

However, if you want a future sports star, many of these boy virtue names would look great on the back of a jersey!